Warm
by Pachamama9
Summary: Hermione and Ron go camping in the Forest of Dean two years after the War. One-shot.


**A/N: A sweet Romione fic set after the War.**

 **If You Dare Challenge - #217 (Thick blanket)**

 **Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #700 (backpack)**

 **Character Diversity Boot Camp - Hermione Granger, #44 (broad)**

 **Your Favorite House Boot Camp - Gryffindor, #8 (half)**

 **Build A Zoo Challenge - Gorillas (Hermione Granger)**

 **200 Different Pairings Challenge - #14 (Ron/Hermione)**

 **Conversation Starter Prompt Challenge - #4 (Write a fluffy fic.)**

 **Through the Universe Challenge - #17 (freezing)**

 **Disclaimer: Queen Rowling owns it all.**

* * *

"Hermione? You up yet?"

Hermione sat up in her sleeping bag, half of her hair stuck on one side of her head. "I am now. What is it?"

Ron looked just as tired as she was. He scratched the back of his head. "Er… There's a… er…"

"Is it another spider?"

"Yep."

Hermione groaned, slamming her head back against the pillow. After dating for nearly two years, they had decided to go on a camping trip to celebrate in the Forest of Dean. Hermione loved it there, but had expected for it to be more like it was when she went with her parents than it was then. She soon discovered that Ron _hated_ the outdoors, especially with all of the insects around. She was beginning to regret her decision to go on this trip in the first place. "Alright," she agreed finally. "I'll get it. Where is it?" She lit her wand with a silent Lumos, trying to locate it. Ron squinted in the sudden, bright light.

He gulped. "In my bed."

 _No wonder he's awake,_ Hermione thought. She tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, and when that didn't work, finger-combed it to reasonable… Ugh. She ended up just pulling it back into a frizzbomb of a ponytail. "Help me up."

Gratefully, Ron pulled her up out of her sleeping bag, picking her up bridal style. "Sorry for waking you," he muttered. "Sorry for being a coward." It was freezing outside of her warm sleeping bag, but currently, she didn't care.

She pressed a finger to his lips. "You're not a coward, sweetheart. You're human. Everyone's afraid of something." She hadn't been there when Harry and Ron had gone all the way into the Forbidden Forest, 'following the spiders' to find out what was in the Chamber of Secrets and discovered only an acromantula and its family. She knew that Ron must have been terrified out of his mind.

He kissed her fingers back.

* * *

"Hey, I know that song!" exclaimed Ron. Hermione had decided to move their tent to where they could see the lake better. Currently, since there were Muggles around, they could not use magic to move their tent, so they were binding up the tent themselves. Hermione had been humming a song for about a minute or so that Ron had recognized. "It's…er…"

"You know Muggle music now?" inquired Hermione. Ron had always said that Muggle music was 'bland.'

He shrugged, grunting as he tried to force his sleeping bag into a bag too tiny for it to fit. "You play it all the time, 'Mione. How can I not?"

"Right." The song was 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz, and she sang it in the shower all the time.

"Reminds me of you, you know?"

Hermione tried not to blush and instead rolled her eyes. "Such a romantic," she said.

He threw a pillow at her. "I'm exposing my emotional self to you, Hermione. Be a little appreciative."

She laughed and pointed to the green sleeping bag he was trying to wrestle. "Ron, it doesn't go in that one. The purple sleeping bag has the green cover."

Ron looked bewildered. "But the green sleeping bag—"

"Has a gray cover." Hermione shoved her stuffed animal into her backpack, the one she'd had since she was little.

"But—" He shook his head, grabbing the gray cover. "The people who make these things," he grumbled, "must be color blind."

* * *

Hermione almost jumped out of her own skin when she heard the scream. It was full of mucus and terror, and almost immediately after, she recognized it as Ron's, her fear still wide awake. "Ron?" she called out, wriggling out of her sleeping bag and throwing the extra thick blanket off of herself. "Ron, where are—

She was hit hard with a large, broad-shouldered male with red hair and terrified eyes.

"Hermione," Ron gasped, grabbing her by both of her arms, and then he kissed her swiftly.

She was so surprised that she didn't know how to react at first. She realized, after his lips left hers and he was embracing her tightly, that he must've had another nightmare. "You're real," he murmured into her hair, his face still wet with tears. At first his words were firm, but soon they grew desperate as she didn't answer. "'Mione," he begged. "You're real, please tell me you're real."

"Of course I'm real," she replied, as Ron slumped into her. "Why wouldn't I—" She stopped. He didn't know if she was real or not because the nightmare had been about her. "I'm real," she assured him. "I'm real."

She hugged him back, rubbing his back and trying to calm him down. Nightmares were not uncommon in the both of them. "What happened?" she whispered into his shoulder.

Ron only sobbed in response, gripping her harder. She let him cry into her until he didn't seem to need her as such a fierce anchor anymore.

She tried again. "What happened?"

"Dunno," he answered, short and sweet. He was attempting to avoid the conversation altogether.

She decided to just come straight out with it. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah."

"Was it about me?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"No."

"Do you want to sleep with me for tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Hermione took Ron by both of his quivering hands and led him to the side of the tent where her sleeping bag was. She unzipped it, and both of them squeezed inside. In order to fit, they were pressed all the way against one another, and Ron's arms were around her, warm and protecting. Hermione had not felt this safe in a long time.

"I love you," Ron whispered into her hair.

"I love you, too," she answered, snuggling deeper into him.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review!**


End file.
